


Movie Night

by purpleeyesandbowties



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Quoting Movies, after the crew makes it back to earth, hera and doug are nerds, the princess bride- freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 17:28:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5464892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purpleeyesandbowties/pseuds/purpleeyesandbowties
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an AU that I don’t have the time to make up an explanation for, everyone makes it back home, mostly safe and sound. Doug spends some time in the hospital while Hera gets a cool new body. Once Doug is discharged, he and Hera hang out together. It doesn’t go quite as either one of them expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Movie Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fangirl_squee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_squee/gifts).



> For my dear friend and all-around great person, Maddie. I thought you might appreciate some fluff while we wait in agony for season 3. Have a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic new year! <3

The moment he was cleared to leave the hospital, Doug declared he was ready to celebrate. He said as much, hoisting himself out of his wheelchair, and took exactly two steps on his own before crumpling to the ground by the front doors of the hospital.

“And by ‘celebrate’ I mean ‘stay at home and rest like the doctor told me to’,” he grumbled, allowing Hera to help him up and deposit him back in his chair. She pushed him towards the waiting taxi, grumbling softly to herself as she worked her way up a steep incline. (She was used to shuttling him around of course, but not with a physical body that could tire itself out. And he had gained a bit of weight during his hospital stay. But he was healthy again, so she decided not to complain).

“Okay, Hera, take me home,” Doug said, settling himself in the passenger seat.

From the driver’s seat (driving was another new experience that Hera wasn’t sure she liked) Hera said, “I know for a fact that your old apartment is uninhabitable for even inhuman life. You’re welcome to stay at my apartment until we can find you a place that won’t immediately land you back in the hospital.”

Doug looked mildly insulted for a moment before shrugging. “You’re probably right.”

\--

Hera’s apartment was small and sparsely furnished. It did, however, contain a squashy couch, food in the kitchen, and a working television, so it was good enough for Doug. He was a man of simple tastes.

“There are so many movies I’ve been dying to show you,” Doug said, flipping through Hera’s movie collection. She had ordered dvds of most of the movies and shows Doug had talked about in space and a few more she was interested in, and had been working her way through them in her spare time. It helped to have some background noise in the quiet, still apartment. (The quiet was another thing she would never get used to. She didn’t have to juggle three different conversations at a time, and strangely, she found it lonely rather than relieving).

“You’ve talked about all these movies often enough that there’s really no point in seeing them, right? I already know what happens.”

“Shush. You haven’t seen them with my excellent commentary yet, so you haven’t truly experienced them. Now let’s watch _Star Wars_.”

\--

He lasted longer than Hera expected him to. Roughly an hour into the movie, he began to fidget. The characters on screen were fighting for their lives, their spaceship hurtling through the uncaring universe. Explosions and alarms went off, shouts and screams ringing through the air. It was a well-produced movie. It was almost like being up there again.

Hera could feel Doug shaking beside her, his breathing shallow, as a battle raged on screen. She paused the movie. Neither of them spoke for a long moment, Doug trying to steady his breathing and Hera waiting for him to be ready. Finally, he said quietly, “I think I’ve had enough space for a while.”

“Me too,” Hera agreed, standing up to change the movie. Doug stood up too, wrapping a blanket around his shoulders. He followed her across the room, holding on to her shoulder for extra support. Every few steps, his chest would bump into her back. (Physical contact was a weird thing, too. She was pretty sure she liked it).

Hera stopped in front of the shelf of movies, suddenly at a loss. What could they watch that wouldn’t remind Doug of something terrible he had been through? He had been through so much; what was left that Hollywood hadn’t made into a feature length film several times over?

 Doug, who had regained a bit of his usual spark, slid _The Princess Bride_ out from the shelf. It was one of the first movies Hera had seen on Earth. She wouldn’t admit it to Doug, but it was her favorite. She had most of the dialogue memorized.

“I didn’t know you liked romance movies, Doug,” Hera teased.

“Of course I do! Who _doesn’t_ like a good romance? Besides, it also has sword fights.”

They ended up on the couch again, sitting on opposite ends.

Hera glanced over at Doug, who was quietly reciting the opening lines of the movie as they happened. His face changed to reflect the character and line as he said it. She watched him switch between the grandson and his grandfather, trying to hold back a giggle. After a few minutes, Doug caught her watching. He smiled through the next sentence, and after that delivered the lines directly to her.

“As you wish,” he said as Westley, face serious but soft. Hera knew that he was acting but the affection in his voice and the sharp focus of his eyes….it was easy to pretend he was really speaking to her. Hera’s fans kicked in, her version of blushing. She laughed to cover up the sound, and dug through her memory in time to deliver Buttercup’s next line. They went back and forth with the lines, overdramatically portraying the star-crossed lovers.

Hera could hardly contain the giggles that threatened to escape her. This was fun. It was the most fun she’d had since getting to Earth. Spending time with Doug, just messing around and being silly—it felt good. Like the good days back on the Hephaestus, before everything went to hell.

As they got into character, Hera scooted closer to Doug, turning in towards him so their knees touched. She could see Doug’s wide grin from the flickering light of the TV. On screen, Westley and Buttercup were preparing to say their goodbyes as he went off to sea to seek his fortune. Hera quickly schooled her own smile into a mirror of Buttercup’s sorrowful face.

“I fear I will never see you again,” she proclaimed, reaching her hands towards Doug. He took them in his own, responding in turn.

“Of course you will.”

There was a strange look in his eyes—soft and open. Hera blinked, feeling a shift in the atmosphere. The next line stuck in her throat, but she forced it out.

 “But what if something happens to you?”  

She didn’t say ‘again’ but he heard it, regardless. She dutifully stuck to the script they both knew verbatim, but she wasn’t speaking as Buttercup anymore. She was speaking as herself, and all the fear she had bottled up for him came rushing out in that one sentence. She had almost lost him so many times. So many times. She didn’t know if she could do it again.

Doug squeezed her hands, an apology, and held her gaze unwaveringly—a promise.

“Here this now: I will always come for you,” he said, and she could tell he wasn’t just quoting a movie anymore, either.

“But how can you be sure?” she whispered. How _could_ he be sure? They thought they were safe in space—they weren’t. They thought they could trust Hilbert—they couldn’t. They thought Doug would get better—he didn’t. Right now, Earth seemed safe enough, but who were they to say? If space taught her nothing else, it was that nothing was certain anymore. Nothing was safe.

Hera felt like she was teetering on the edge of something important, but was too scared to fall and find out what.

 She loosened her grip on Doug’s hands. He could pull away if he wanted. They could go back to watching the movie. They could leave the words unspoken between them and stop wobbling on the terrifying edge of….whatever this was. All he had to do was look away and break the spell that had fallen over them.

But he didn’t look away. Instead, he cradled her cheek in his hand, still gazing at her with that soft expression.

“This is true love,” he said. “You think this happens every day?”

Hera had been scared of falling off the edge. But this, this was more like flying.


End file.
